OkCupid protests Firefox over CEO’s anti-same-sex marriage donation

OkCupid protests Firefox over CEO’s anti-same-sex marriage donation

(CNN) — Dating site OkCupid is calling for its members to ditch Firefox and use another browser to search for love. The company is protesting Mozilla’s new CEO, Brendan Eich, who supported an anti-same-sex marriage campaign. Firefox is owned by Mozilla.

When OkCupid members navigate to the site on a Firefox browser, they are met with a message encouraging them to use an alternative browser to access the site, including Google Chrome, Opera, Safari and the amusingly misspelled Internet Exploder.

“Those who seek to deny love and instead enforce misery, shame and frustration are our enemies, and we wish them nothing but failure,” reads the message.

The page points out that 8% of the matches made on OkCupid are between same-sex couples.

Last week, Mozilla promoted Eich, a longtime employee who was previously the company’s chief technology officer, to the position of CEO. The move prompted renewed outrage by third-party developers and employees. Eich donated $1,000 to support Propostion 8 in 2008. The California ballot initiative sought to ban same-sex marriage in the state. The donation was made public in 2012 but Eich held onto his job.

After the announcement of Eich’s promotion, app development company Rarebit announced it had pulled its apps from Firefox. “As a married gay couple who are co-founders of this venture, we have chosen to boycott all Mozilla projects,” said founder Hampton Catlin in an open letter to the company.

Various Mozilla employees have also spoken up about the promotion, taking to Twitter to openly share their disappointment with Eich’s politics. Some have come together and publicly called for Eich to step down.

Eich posted a blog on his personal site last week addressing the backlash. He outlined his plan to support LGBT-friendly policies at Mozilla and expressed “sorrow at having caused pain.”

“I am committed to ensuring that Mozilla is, and will remain, a place that includes and supports everyone,” he said.

The apology hasn’t satisfied everyone, and the backlash continues to grow one week later. OkCupid is one of the most high-profile companies to take a stand against Eich’s appointment.

The letter on the OkCupid home page is a bold move. However, it is not actually blocking Firefox users from using OkCupid. At the bottom of the page is a link to continue on to the site.